Reviews

A year after “Steal My Girl” ushered in an era where the members of One Direction were focused on songs built for stadiums, “Drag Me Down” has arrived to flip the script once more.

It’s all about the energy. From the moment “Drag Me Down” kicks in there is a thick bass line guiding the entire voyage that demands your legs prepare to dance. It’s a ticking time bomb of pop sensibilities that quickly builds from the infectious first verse to a pre-chorus that pulls you in to the …

As you may have seen in the trailers, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation sports the most dangerous stunt yet: Tom Cruise hanging from the side of a cargo plane as it takes off. No matter how silly that sounds, the new entry into the espionage franchise steeps these death-defying acts in an admirable amount of reality. Rogue Nation is the thrilling cross-section between screwball comedy and cloak-and-dagger noir; all adding up to the most fun you will have this summer in a theater. …

Vacation–the successor to the last entry in the National Lampoon comedy series–opens on a series of pictures depicting seemingly idyllic families enjoying their vacations. In ye olde National Lampoon fashion, there are also a few visual gags centered on puking and erections (luckily, not in the same frame). From the get-go, this spiritual sequel (reboot? who cares?) is already trying to bring back the kind of humor that made the original quadrilogy so famous. Instead of relying on sight gags and absurdist …

Chris Farley, that bubbly, rambunctious, endearing, laugh-a-minute inducing lovable Saturday Night Live comedian, is the subject of the new talking heads doc, I Am Chris Farley. Despite sporting a title that could be misread for Farley talking directly to the viewer, directors Brent Hodge (A Brony Tale) and Derik Murray (I Am Bruce Lee) make the 92-minute running time feel swift with archival footage from Farley’s best skits and first-hand accounts of his comedic prowess. The main narrative of the film may be scattershot, …

A catalyst for somber emotive imagery and tenderness felt, the best way to experience Foreign Tongues‘ debut record is by imagining a simple, empty white room, being sure to give this space enough room to bloom. A room to be filled with vast amounts of sound, pain, beauty, demure and efflorescence, as the band masterfully performs to you an album of heartfelt honesty, pain and sensation. “Fill me up, oh you fill me up.”

Adam Sandler has official hit rock bottom, and he’s dragging your childhood heroes, as well as the great Peter Dinklage, down with him.

Pixels is exactly what we fear seeing when we pay to go to the movies. From beginning to end the film, which plays like an extended version of the spoiler heavy trailer with needless exposition added to extend its running time, is a complete waste of everything needed to make movies. The cast—while talented—folds completely under the pressure to make something memorable out of what I …

Unless you’re planning for it, the news that you’re about to have a baby can be both an exciting and terrifying experience in someone’s life. For Samantha Abbott (Cobie Smulders), there was probably no good time for the news that she would soon give birth to her first child to arrive. It’s not that she never wanted children, but she always planned to have them at some unknown point in the future when her life was a bit more settled. Unfortunately for Samantha, life rarely cares about the plans …

Fear not, everyone. The reign of Marvel as the leader in modern summer entertainment is far from over.

Everyone knew from the very beginning that the third phase of Marvel’s beloved cinematic universe would need to undergo a serious evolution in order to keep moviegoers engaged, and in response to that demand the studio has pulled off something just short of magical with Ant-Man. Not quite as serious as the Avengers films, but also not so light-hearted that it overlooks the key emotional beats needed to make superhero …

The second day of 2015′s 80/35 will not be a day forgotten any time soon.

Despite a little bit of heat, the entire day was filled with memorable sets all the way from the evening’s headliner down to the smallest local band. It doesn’t happen often in the festival world, but it just felt like one of those where every single band was putting on a show at their peak potential.

Judd Apatow’s directorial features have been losing their comedic luster as of late, trading in laughs for more commonplace and conventional themes of parenthood and mid-life crises with This is 40 and Funny People. With Trainwreck, it’s like his spitfire hangout kind of humor has been revived by way of his new muse, comedienne Amy Schumer. Ripping from events in her own life, the film properly emulates the societal pressures put upon women in regards to staying monogamous while splicing through the kind …

Day 1 of 2015′s 80/35 is in the books. The weather was beautiful, the music sounded great, the crowd showed endless enthusiasm and feet soreness is at a manageable level.

The main stage, as promised in the 80/35 preview, did not disappoint. But, aside from the top-of-the-bill acts delivering expectedly shining performances, there were some true gems hidden on the side stages. Check out the run-down of everything I caught from day 1 here:…

I don’t know that I have ever felt about a documentary the way I do for Crystal Moselle’s directorial debut, The Wolfpack. It’s a deeply moving look at the human experience as viewed through the eyes of a Lower Manhattan family whose only working knowledge of the world around them has been informed by their love of film. Despite what they lack on the surface however, they share an unbreakable bond that lifts their collective spirits above the immediate surroundings.